View full sizeSaxophonist Rogerst Charles leads a group of children from the Sparkman Homes Boys & Girls Club during the filming of a music video on Aug. 26, 2011. (File photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The Huntsville Housing Authority is reluctantly
cutting four social service agencies out of its budget because of a recent
change in HUD rules.

At its meeting Monday, the housing authority's volunteer
Board of Commissioners voted to eliminate a total of $246,000 in funding for
the Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and LIFE
Inc., as well as Calhoun Community College.

Boys & Girls Clubs was scheduled to get $150,000 this
year to help operate its popular after-school and summer programs at the Butler
Terrace and Sparkman Homes public housing developments. The James A. Lane Boys
& Girls Club on Washington Street is a short walk from the Lincoln Park
public housing site.

Housing authority board member Dick Fountain, who also serves
on the Boys & Girls Clubs board, estimates the nonprofit agency provides daily
structured activities, healthy snacks and a positive environment for about 700
children living in public housing.

"This is a real blow," said Fountain. "But we're committed
to keeping these clubs open. The board is just going to have to overcome it
through private fundraising.

"We're the only safe haven and the only option that a lot of
these kids have in the afternoon."

Housing authority board member Delvin Sullivan used to be one
of those kids. Sullivan said he "grew up" in the Sparkman Homes Boys & Girls
Club and was inspired to join the Army by his former Boy Scouts Scoutmaster,
Albert Farrar Sr.

"If I didn't have the Boys & Girls Clubs, I wouldn't be
here today," said an emotional Sullivan. "We have to find a way to fund these
organizations."

Executive Director Michael Lundy said the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development notified the housing authority on Oct. 24 that
capital dollars can now be used only on "bricks and mortar," not direct social
services or security.

The housing authority had planned to phase out funding for
social programs over a five-year period, said Lundy. In light of the new HUD
rules, those contracts will all now be canceled Dec. 31.

"This is a terrific negative impact to this housing
authority," said Lundy. "Obviously, everyone is disappointed as we were."

While Boys & Girls Clubs has the largest contract, the
housing authority was also providing $30,000 a year to Boy Scouts, $15,000 to
Girls Scouts, $33,000 to LIFE Inc. and $18,000 to Calhoun Community College.
LIFE Inc. and Calhoun operate GED programs at the Northwoods and Butler Terrace
public housing sites, respectively.

Lundy said Boys & Girls Clubs and the scouting groups can
continue to use housing authority-owned facilities at nominal cost. And he said
the housing authority's grant writer will begin hunting right away for
replacement dollars through the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies.

"I just feel like we're going to be able to work through
this," said Lundy.

Housing authority board Chairman Dr. Phil Redrick - like Fountain
a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs board - said he plans to write to
President Obama and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan about the negative "human
impact" the new rule will have on public housing residents.

Redrick asked Lundy to make it his "highest priority" to
identify other funding sources for the affected nonprofits.

The money won't come from the housing authority's operating
budget, which is already expected to be $1.5 million in the red for 2014.